Yu Xian's talent for martial arts was actually atrocious.
He had never been good at learning this sort of ability. No, to be more precise, he wasn't good at studying or learning anything at all.
Fortunately, he had everyone helping him. Only because of their collective effort had he been able to pick apart every subtle detail from the Abyssal Tiger Lord's deceptively plain movements, gradually absorbing the essence of the Tiger Lord Form.
Over the next three hours, the group managed to grasp a tiny fraction of the leg exertion mechanics of the Tiger Lord Form.
"Big Brother, I can't do this anymore. My brain is officially overloaded."
Little Nora felt like its brain hadn't worked this hard in ages.
Besides, keeping its eyes glued to the Abyssal Tiger Lord with undivided attention was simply torture. Right now, it just wanted to eat meat.
Niman sighed as well. "Indeed. Unless one is naturally gifted, analyzing the core essence of an enemy's techniques is extraordinarily difficult. On top of that, we have no idea whether what we've deduced is even correct."
"I want to sleep..." Little Huangquan murmured weakly.
Evidently, during this time, everyone's physical exertion hadn't been great, but the mental toll was immense.
Yu Xian realized that trying to learn the Tiger Lord Form from the Abyssal Tiger Lord like this was dragging things out far too much. Just because he was full of energy didn't mean everyone else could maintain that same vigor.
Besides, not everyone was interested in the Tiger Lord Form.
Little Nora and the others were willing to help him because they valued, loved, and respected him.
Yet he loved them too—a mix of romantic affection and deep friendship. He didn't want them forcing themselves to push through just to support him. He would rather take a bit more time than see them suffer for no good reason.
In truth, staying fused with Little Nora and the rest didn't serve much purpose right now anyway.
With the King of the Abyss Battle Armor protecting him, whether he was strong or weak hardly mattered. All that counted was being able to spar with the Abyssal Tiger Lord and learn the Tiger Lord Form.
Yet he couldn't simply undo the fusion and let Little Nora and the others rest nearby. After all, the Primordial Water was already tainted by the Abyss. If they stepped outside the King of the Abyss Battle Armor, every one of them would mutate into grotesque monstrosities.
Then an idea struck him. If he couldn't look outward, why not look inward?
It was true that creating spatial bubbles out in the Abyss was difficult. But in a place untouched by the Abyss's influence, conjuring a bubble was simple, and there was no danger of abyssal corruption.
For instance... inside the King of the Abyss Battle Armor!
And since he could create a spatial bubble, that meant he could create a grotto-heaven world.
If he manifested a grotto-heaven space inside his own body, couldn't he release Little Nora and the others into it to rest while he stayed out here, continuing to learn the Tiger Lord Form from the Abyssal Tiger Lord?
No sooner said than done.
Yu Xian immediately went to work, conjuring a spatial bubble within his body before employing the Art of Grotto-Heaven to expand its interior.
Remarkably, though it had started as a sudden whim, actually executing it proved far easier than expected. He simply formed a minuscule bubble in the region of his stomach and effortlessly established a grotto-heaven space.
It seemed one really shouldn't scare oneself.
Most difficulties were mere fabrications of the mind; once a person actually set out to do it, they would find it wasn't hard at all.
"Everyone, I'm genuinely interested in Feng Laixian's technique, but given my limited talent, it might take a while. If you aren't interested or if you're tired, you can undo the fusion and head into the grotto-heaven space inside my body to rest," Yu Xian told them.
Little Nora was the first to cheer. "Hooray!"
It had no interest in the Abyssal Tiger Lord's martial arts. Enduring for so long had purely been due to a lack of other options. Now that a better alternative existed, it naturally jumped at the chance.
In the end, everyone made their choice. Only Nora stayed behind to accompany Yu Xian, while the rest retreated into the grotto-heaven space to rest.
The grotto-heaven space was completely bare. Yu Xian couldn't conjure soil out of thin air, after all, so Little Nora and the others found themselves resting in a pure white expanse.
Niman produced an enormous red carpet from her storage space and spread it out before sitting down to rest.
"My brain can finally take a break."
Little Nora sprawled across the carpet, feeling its mind finally relax. If it hadn't, its CPU would have started smoking. It felt as though its brain had been worked beyond its limits this time. If exercising the brain caused it to grow muscles, its brain right now would look like a female bodybuilder.
"This ability of Yu Xian's is quite fascinating. The Art of Grotto-Heaven could probably be considered a branch of the Creator God Art," Niman remarked with a smile, looking around only after she was seated.
Little Nora glanced around at the empty void and asked, "Sister Niman, are you saying this place already counts as a world?"
"Not yet. But if we do this, it will." Niman smiled faintly and activated her ability.
White clouds instantly drifted across the sky as the expanse shifted into an azure hue. A moment later, the red carpet subtly swelled, and the red fungi covering it rapidly transformed into lush green.
In the blink of an eye, the entire space underwent a radical transformation, resembling a vibrant, verdant grassland.
"Whoa!"
Little Nora looked around, letting out a gasp of wonder.
It conjured a meaty bone, took a bite, and asked, "Is it a world now?"
"If we're talking about a micro-world, you could say so," Niman nodded.
With heaven above and earth below, it was indeed a world in its own right. However, such a world was like an ephemeral bubble, liable to vanish without a trace in a single instant.
Outside, Yu Xian continued to study the Abyssal Tiger Lord's Tiger Lord Form.
Without the assistance of Little Nora and Niman, the learning curve had suddenly steepened tenfold.
The main issue was that even when the Abyssal Tiger Lord's attacks struck him, he couldn't glean much insight from them. He lacked Niman's ability to analyze its force mechanics or even the nuances of its breathing.
Even so, he devised a crude method: lagging half a beat behind the Abyssal Tiger Lord.
No matter what technique the Abyssal Tiger Lord threw at him, Yu Xian replicated it immediately after the strike concluded, copying the movement regardless of whether the imitation was spot-on.
Before long, the two looked like a pair of marionettes moving in exact symmetry, albeit with a slight delay—Yu Xian was always just a hair slower.
It was a clumsy approach, but surprisingly effective.
Hours slipped by in a flash. Yu Xian's movements grew increasingly similar to the Abyssal Tiger Lord's. Aside from lacking a tail to whip around, the subtle shifts of his muscles and sinews as his body twisted were nearly identical.
*No!*
*Something's off!*
The more Yu Xian learned, the stronger an indescribable sense of dissonance grew.
He had clearly mimicked the form down to the finest detail. Yet perhaps because he had been constantly imitating, he felt more and more as though he hadn't truly captured it—and yet, he couldn't put his finger on what was missing.
The Abyssal Tiger Lord pressed on relentlessly: straight punches, hooks, uppercuts, front kicks, side kicks, knee strikes, downward elbow smashes, spinning backfists...
In truth, human movements were limited to so many variations. All techniques, no matter how diverse, adhered to fundamental principles. If one were to sprout extra arms or legs for combat, that would belong to an entirely different school of martial arts.
*Where did I go wrong?*
In the end, Yu Xian stopped copying altogether. Watching the Abyssal Tiger Lord charge in with another furious assault, he sank into deep contemplation.
He couldn't fathom what he was failing to replicate. It was clearly the exact same straight punch. The way the force was generated was identical. Even the breathing was the same, the bristling of hair was the same, and the opening and closing of the pores were the same—and yet, it was fundamentally different.
Was it the functioning of the internal organs?
Or was there something else at play, something he didn't know?
Chapter 302